Happy Birthday, Bobby V.

Today Robert John "Bobby" Valentine, manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League, turns 58 years young.

A few weeks back we previewed The Zen of Bobby V., which made debut at this year's Tribecca Film Festival. Zen is a documentary directed by 3 NYU students — Andrew Jenks, Andrew Muscato, and Jonah Quickmire Pettigrew — following Valentine "through a season of baseball in Japan."

Shortly after publishing the post, we shared a few emails with Muscato who informed us that the film will be broadcast tonight on ESPN2 at 9 PM, with a DVD release soon to follow.

Be sure to check it out tonight on the Deuce.

See also:

• The Zen of Bobby V (HHR)
• The Zen of Bobby V (TribecaFilmFestival.org)
• Bobby Valentine on His New Tribeca Documentary (NY Mag Interview)
• The Zen of Bobby V (NY Mag Clip)

The Zen of Bobby V

Making its debut at this year's Tribecca Film Festival is a documentary directed by 3 NYU students — Andrew Jenks, Andrew Muscato, and Jonah Quickmire Pettigrew — following baseball guru-turned-Japanese rockstar Bobby Valentine "through a season of baseball in Japan."

New York Magazine recently published an interview with Valentine in anticipation of the film, and the former Mets skipper talks about some of the context of the documentary, adjustment to life in Japan and the differences between the game in the States and in Japan:

"When people watch this film, they’ll hopefully see that these three guys captured the fandom here, which is really different. The fans have an incredible amount of passion. The game on the field is the exact same game, but it’s played with precision, the way it was many years ago in the States, before it became a power game. The double play and the sacrifice run and the sacrifice play are still common here. The 100-mile-an-hour fastball and the 500-foot home run are not."

NY Mag also features an exclusive clip of the film. You can view it by clicking the image below. Valentine's embracing of the land and the culture is predominently highlighted in the clip. Fascinating stuff for a guy known stateside for being a bit of an eccentric.

The official Tribeca profile of The Zen of Bobby V includes further information as well as upcoming showtimes.

The Zen of Bobby V (TribecaFilmFestival.org)
Bobby Valentine on His New Tribeca Documentary (NY Mag Interview)
The Zen of Bobby V (NY Mag Clip)